Washington–Senate Republican leadership is signaling it still holds out hope that asbestos legislation creating a trust fund to pay claims can be enacted in this Congress.
In a statement late Friday, Senate Majority Leader William Frist, R-Tenn., said: “To fix the asbestos crisis without additional delay, I have told sponsors of the bill that 60 members must signify their commitment to support both the motion to waive the pending Budget Act point of order and end any filibuster of the bill.
“Once that public assurance is given,” he said, “I will look to schedule the bill at the earliest possible opportunity. The victims of asbestos exposure deserve no less.”
Sen. Frist's comments were made in the wake of the failure of the bill's supporters last Tuesday to garner the 60 votes needed to overcome a budget point of order and keep the bill.
The bill, S. 852, the Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution (FAIR) Act, would have created a $140 billion trust fund administered through an agency of the Department of Labor. Under the claims process, victims of asbestos exposure in the workplace would have been paid based on a 10-tier scale based on the severity of their condition.
The bill's main author is Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., chairman of the Judiciary Committee. A main co-sponsor is Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, ranking minority member of the committee.
An industry lobbyist who asked not to be named said the statement by the majority leader means that Sen. Frist is still prepared to continue the fight for the Specter-Leahy trust fund bill, but only if he has an absolute assurance that there are 60 votes both to waive the budget point of order and to limit debate on the bill.
Most insurance industry officials, however, believe that an unusual coalition of conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats will continue to thwart the efforts of Sens. Frist, Specter and Leahy to get the bill through the Senate.
They believe that efforts will now be made in the Judiciary Committee, where the legislation was drafted, to pass a bill establishing precise medical criteria for settling claims by workers alleging they were injured by exposure in the workplace.
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